THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



boundary was the side of one well weathered 

 barn and the back of another, with a scanty 

 glimpse between them of meadows stretching 

 down to the Connecticut River. The fourth 

 was an open fence marking off a field of riotous 

 weeds. When the tenant mistress of this un- 

 promising spot began to occupy it the yard and 

 alley were a free range for the poultry of the 

 neighborhood, and its only greenery was two 

 or three haphazard patches of weedy turf. 

 One-fourth of the ground, in the angle made 

 by the open fence and one of the barns, had been 

 a hen-yard and was still inclosed within a high 

 wire-netting; but outside that space every 

 plant she set out had to be protected from the 

 grubbing fowls by four stakes driven down with 

 a hammer. Three years afterward she bore off 

 our capital prize in a competition of one hun- 

 dred gardens. Let me tell what the judges 

 found. 



Out in the street, at the off side of the alley- 

 gate, between a rude fence and an electric- 

 railway siding, in about as much space as 

 would give standing room to one horse and 



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